The spirit of a Pharisee
Robert Wurtz II
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.” (Matthew 23:23-26 ESV)
Exposed and Denounced
When Jesus exposed and denounced the scribes and Pharisees, He knew their days were numbered as a philosophy within Second Temple Judaism. He also knew that certain Pharisees would form Rabbinic Judaism, which many Jews adhere to today. The question becomes, why did the Holy Spirit inspire and leave a record of these denunciations? Paul answers this in two places:
“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. (Romans 15:4 KJV)
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11 KJV)
We could spend time reviewing the different types of Pharisees according to the Rabbis so that the reader will realize that not all Pharisees were bad. But that is not the purpose of this entry. Instead, I wish to examine the spirit of the Pharisees, not a demon, but an attitude.
A Dangerous and Destructive Spirit
The Pharisees were dangerous because they believed they were the guides of others. They viewed themselves as more spiritual and more capable than anyone else. They were a law unto themselves — unteachable and beyond correction. Paul, a Pharisee who sat at the feet of Gamaliel, spoke from experience as a Jew when he wrote:
“And if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal?” (Romans 2:19-21 ESV)
Here, Paul identifies an attitude of what I’m calling the spirit of a Pharisee when he suggests that this type teaches others but doesn’t believe the Law applies to them. This outlook is both dangerous and destructive. Rather than using God’s word to govern their relationships as His children, they used it to exalt and draw attention to themselves.
Blind Leaders of the Blind
It’s easy to see why the Pharisees were blind when they loved darkness rather than light (John 3:1ff). They were ungenerous, stingy, and greedy. Besides this, they always resisted the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51). As a result, they were full of darkness (Matthew 6:23). The Pharisees Jesus spoke to were like Job’s counselors who darkened counsel with words without knowledge (Job 38:2).
On the contrary, when Jesus preached, those who sat in darkness saw a great light (Matthew 4:16). They saw what God meant when He said what He did. They were made to realize what it was truly all about. Satan and men are masters at clouding God’s purposes for His children individually and His Church collectively. Those who fall victim to the spirit of a Pharisee are blinded to God’s purposes and are led by others who are either willingly ignorant or blinded by their own ambitions.
Straining at Gnats and Swallowing Camels
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When people are ignorant of God’s purposes, they take God’s word and invent their own religion with their own emphasis. They dwell on the minutiae and neglect the very things that God is trying to teach. Jesus said they would measure out a tithe of their mint, dill, and cumin and turn right around and ignore justice, mercy, and faithfulness. They didn’t care about relationships; they wanted attention for themselves.
How did the Pharisees manage to make Judaism all about them when the purpose of the Law was to instruct the Israelites on how to love God and each other? They exaggerated things because they were hypocrites. That’s not my judgment; those are the plain words of Jesus as he denounced them in the sharpest of terms. And I have no doubt that He would denounce people who follow this pattern today with the same terrifying judgments. Why? Because they are steering people away from God and drawing them after themselves (Matthew 23:15, Acts 20:30)
The Pharisees simply didn’t care about God’s will. It was all a put-on. Jesus likens their attitude to someone fishing around in their drink to pull out a little gnat that fell in, then turning around and swallowing a camel. Both gnats (Leviticus 11:23, 41) and camels (Leviticus 11:4) were unclean and not to be eaten. Fussing about small things and then ignoring the big things is a characteristic of a hypocrite. It is the spirit of a Pharisee.
Getting in God’s Way
Can you imagine someone fussing about something that has nothing to do with what God is doing on earth? It’s their pet peeves, preferences, and gripes. Why else would they fuss about things like hand washing? Where was their mind? People are dying and going to hell, and yet here are flagrant trivialities being pushed to the front of the line.
If they cared about justice, they would treat people fairly and equitably and not with favoritism. It stands to reason that if mercy was important, they would extend it indiscriminately, unlike when they brought the woman and not the man was taken in the act of adultery. If they cared about faithfulness, they would have dedicated their lives to having God’s will done on the earth rather than their own.
The Weightier Matters
The Law governed relationships, but the Pharisees used it for their own dark and twisted purposes. They did everything they could to keep the people following them, even if it meant blaspheming the Holy Ghost. In Matthew 27:18, we are told that even Pilate could see that the Chief Priests and elders delivered Jesus out of envy. In Acts 13:45, the Jews were filled with envy when they saw the multitudes.
John the Baptist saw Jesus and said, “I must decrease, and He must increase.” The spirit of a Pharisee says, “I must increase, and He must decrease.” This is Satan operating in people to take the love and devotion that belongs to God for themselves. The Spirit of God focuses our attention on God’s will being done on earth as it is in Heaven. Not our will dressed up as God’s (like the Pharisees did it) but God’s will and purposes. Jesus is building His church, and men are creating their own kingdoms. It is the spirit of the Pharisees.
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